Building roads, building bridges ?

TARIN KOWT, URUZGAN, Afghanistan - Back 'home,' away from the war, it was the Labor Day holiday, but here in Afghanistan is was another day of labor, especially for the newly trained platoon of Afghan National Army engineers working on the Tarin Kowt road.

“We were impressed with the young ANA platoon sergeant and his soldiers who cut over 13 kilometer of road in the past two weeks,” said Holleran, a postal carrier from Brooksville, Ken., and project noncommissioned officer in charge. “The platoon sergeant motivated his soldiers to take pride in their work. In days, they were operating bulldozers, graders, scrappers, rollers, and rippers (rock remover) like old pros.”

While at the site, visiting General Paolozzi, general observed his soldiers cutting culverts on the side of the road that would provide flood drainage. He congratulated them for their diligence and encouraged them to continue to serve their nation.

“These ANA engineers are making history,” concluded Gnl Paolozzi, from Ithaca New YorkTask Force Pacemaker and 864th Engineer Combat Battalion (Heavy).

“They are the first ANA road crew. They’re sowing seeds of cooperation and victory. We engineers throughout the world are the same. We may wear different uniforms or speak different languages, but we all know our building mission encompasses hours of hard dirty tireless work.”

CENTCOM sent me this ... perhaps they could send these evidently highly trained guys over to the Gulf Coast with that kit, all that enthusiasm, Davis - Bacon kicked into touch and immigration documentation sidelined they could be a helpful ( and very cheap) addition to Halliburton's workforce.